Adjectives
Adjectives are often called describing words although it is more correct to call them defining words as they define the noun that they come before. If we want to talk about a car for example then we can give greater quality to the car by putting an adjective before the noun car. e. g. The blue car, the large car and so on.
More than one adjective can be used to define a noun. In this case there is a particular order let's take the example:
lovely big old black Latin leather
quality size age colour origin material
This is a typical example of adjective order but you should only use so many adjectives when you want to write a very descriptive sentence.
It is a lot easier to remember this simple rule about adjective order:
opinion fact
for example: a nice young girl
Of course, the girl may not be nice in everybody's opinion but most people would agree on her young age.
Task 1
Put these adjectives in the right order
1. huge patterned sofa
2. old ridiculous joke
3. yellow unstoppable lorry
4. shiny fantastic shoes
5. unstable young minds
6. small orange silk well-made new handbag
Adjectives as a Compliment
Adjectives can also be used in sentences without a noun. In this case the adjective is called the complement in the 'Subject Verb Complement' construction. For example:
subject verb complement
I am cold
She is tall
Comparative Adjectives-When we want to compare between two things we can use a comparative adjective to define the noun. To do this we need to count the syllables in a word (a syllable is a sound part of a word) if there are one or two syllables in a word, we simply add-E R to the end of the word. If there are three or more syllables to a word, we put the word more before the adjective and very often the word than after the adjective:
adjective superlative
big bigger
long longer
sad sadder
horrible more horrible than
expensive more expensive than
interesting more interesting than
Superlative Adjectives- When we want to say that a noun is at the top of its category we can use the superlative the form of the adjective. If the adjective is of two syllables or less than we simply add -est to the end of the adjective. If it is three syllables or more than we replace more with the most.
adjective comparative superlative
big bigger the biggest
long longer the longest
sad sadder the saddest
horrible more horrible than the most horrible
expensive more expensive than the most expensive
interesting more interesting than the most interesting
There are some exceptions:
good/better/best bad/worse/worst fun/more fun/ the most fun
Task 2
Conjugate these adjectives into their comparative and superlative forms
